And today ... a heron!

[WifeKidsandDog]

Loved watching this guy (girl?) look for its dinner!

Cheers

Cheryl

[Deitz Dittrich]

very cool.. your skills have really improved in the last month!.. Both of those shots I could expect to see in a magazine!

[floating minnow]

Very nice photo's.The second one is outstanding.I can see you understand light and that new prime lens is very sharp.

[WifeKidsandDog]

Thanks guys -- appreciate the comments. Was a great day to be out taking pics in Owatonna.

Cheers

Cheryl P.

[buzzsaw]

I was going to post one that I took yesterday from a distance, but now I am intimidated. Great shots!

[Tom Wilson]

Hey Buzz--Don't be that way. I remember a lot of your photos that were very nice from back when we got heavy starting to post them a year or so ago. Intimidation is nothing more than fear of failure--we learn our lessons in life and become who we are, by the successes and failures in our life. I'm not trying to be philosophical here, but I remember talking to you on the phone that night for quite a while about photography and you're desire to learn and grow in photography impressed me. You have posted some very nice work in the past and you definitely have "the eye". Your skills will only improve through constant use and through informative critiques and help from people who have already been right where you are now. How many times have you heard me complain about not having good lenses, or critique my own work. My point being that no-one is as hard on me as me, and no-one is as hard on you as you. Post you're photos--nothing in this world inspires a person to try harder than a "pat on the back" or a positive compliment about their work. It makes you feel like a million bucks and fuels you're passion. On the flip side--if a person takes critiques and criticisms for what they are (when they are given correctly) they can learn from them and find valuable information that also helps them grow in the work.

Without hesitation--take a look at all of Cheryl's posts. Cheryl has a wonderful eye. Her photos are beautiful, and I'd be willing to bet that she has a ton of photos that are just as great in her stockpile that we haven't seen. Where Cheryl had some issues when she first started posting was in her computer work not her photography. In less than a month her post processing has developed to the point that everypost she is making now excels. I like to think that Cheryl recieved some very good info from others here that helped her improved on those skills. My first posts on this site were not as good as what I currently try to post now, but that is because I'm hard on myself and I try to make sure that each new one is as good or better than the last. What you have to keep in mind is that not everyone will like you're photo, but everyone will appreciate it. Some folks don't like macro work, some folks don't like portriature, some folks don't like large area environmental type shots--they want to see the animals and see them closeup, and better yet--some people don't like anything. My point to all of this--don't hold back you're work, and don't hold back you're own growth in something you like doing for fear of failure, or even worse, for fear of someone's opinion. You're a bigger man than that.

Tom W

[Tom Wilson]

Cheryl, the second one is absolutely gorgeous. Better than any GBH shot I've got for sure. Publishable quality. Very nice.

Tom W

[buzzsaw]

Tom, thanks bud! I was taking my two little ones for a car ride the other day and just happened to have my camera with me. It's from quite a distance ..I wish I had a powerful zoom because I love the background and the fact that the bird seemed so patient... like it was waiting for that ice to melt.

[WifeKidsandDog]

Buzz,

I think this is a beautiful shot. The colors and clarity are gorgeous -- really, really nice.

Cheryl

[WifeKidsandDog]

Quote:

---

Cheryl, the second one is absolutely gorgeous. Better than any GBH shot I've got for sure. Publishable quality. Very nice.

Tom W

---

Thanks Tom, I'm pleased with the shots, nearly fell in the pond in the process of getting them, but that's OK. The "OmniGrip" on my new boots apparently works quite nicely.

I'm thrilled that I was able to handhold these at 400mm and get his eyeball sharp -- I seem to be getting better at that.

Cheryl

[hobbydog]

That is a great pic Buzz. That is why it is nice to have the camera with. Often you see something that you know would make a great subject. I maybe would have cropped it a bit more to get rid of the sky in the upper right hand corner. When you look at the pic you see a GBH trying to stay warm and toughing it out after the first ice. Some nice contrasting color from the willow tree and the blue ice. I would name that one "Blue Ice Heron"

Not to get off topic here but it seems like I am seeing more Blue Herons than ever before and last year I even saw some that hung out all winter. They don't really look like a cold weather bird. The GBH in the pic looks cold.

[Tom Wilson]

Mike,

I knew you were doubting yourself when you shouldn't have been... What did you capture here? Keep in mind that this is the exact point of what the recent scuttlebut has been all about...people see different things when they look at a photo. Since I can't sit and talk with you about it, here's what I think you see--a GBH that sitting on a point of land jutting out into the water--its too far away, you needed more lens, it could use to be sharper, blah, blah, blah...You were beating yourself up.

Here's what I see (and Hobby pointed this out too)--I see a great capture of bird that by all rights shouldn't be here at this time. Great Blue Herons are usually gone by the time we have ice. They are a tropical bird for the most part. This capture, even though they sit like that most of the time, gives the impression that he is huddled down protecting himself from the cold and the onset of winter. This photo also gives the viewer of a wonderful sense of Nature in her glory. Fresh ice and snow gives you the knowledge that winter is coming, yet the leaves that are left on the willow leave you feeling the loss of Fall. As hunters we all go through this. Who loves this picture and why??? Ice fishermen because they see the onset of ice. People that love fall color. Bird watchers because not only do they see a GBH--They see a rare capture of a GBH. Fishermen and duck hunters as they mourn the loss of their open water season. My point--you can see one thing or you can see many things that make you love a photo. It's a great photo Mike.

I hope you don't mind, but I've also taken the liberty to repost you're image closer to what I saw in the photo and give you some idea on how to emphasize the very things I referenced earlier. As Hobby also stated the crop to this photo can make the impression of the cold even stronger. By taking out a large portion of the right side of the photo you do a few things. First and foremost, you remove a portion of the photo that distracts the eye from the actual subject. Second, by moving the bird you give the photo a better composition by placing the bird in a position that compliments the "rule of thirds". Third, again by placement, the crouching of the bird is made even more substantial by moving him into the corner of the photo--now the viewer gets an even greater feel of how he is trying to hide from the cold. There are other things that can be done as well. A little saturation brings out some more dramatic color in the fall color left on the willow. A slight bit of contrast gets rid of the whitish colored haze that often accompanies "gray day" photos. A tad bit of sharpening, but be careful there as tree leaves don't often sharpen well and will give the impression of being way oversharpened when in fact there not, but appear to be. There are some cloning issues that could be addressed also with some of the debris left in the lower right hand corner, but I didn't take on that this morning. Please take all this from a critique standpoint Mike, I would never tell you that you're photo wasn't good, or make changes and pretend that my changes were better than you're original. I only offer suggestions from what I have learned in an effort to give you ideas on how to improve your abilities in the future. Here's my take on you're photo--is it better? Nope--just different.

Tom W

[buzzsaw]

Tom, your alright in my book! Thanks for taking the time to explain what you saw and also for explaining what you did to the picture and how it made it (in my words) better. I am obviously very interested in photography and I don't and won't take anything that Tom, Hobby, Catfish or Cheryl say as a slight... only as good solid help!! I scanned up again and still can't believe how great those pictures are that Cheryl took! My wife just read what you wrote Tom and said you must be a nice person. She also thinks Cheryl's top picture belongs in a magazine.

[Steve Foss]

Hey buzz, I concur on Tom's crop. Got rid of a lot of extraneous detail that distracted the eye, and conveys a strong message about one cold bird!

Fairly tight shots and closeups of wild birds and animals are cool, and Cheryl's herons are beautiful, but sometimes a wider shot, what I call an "environmental portrait," better captures a mood and a feel. I think your heron shot is in that category. Another thing about mid-range shots is they don't require strong telephoto lenses to achieve them, most times.

[Tom Wilson]

Thanks, Mike

Very kind words.

Tom Wilson